Mass Second World War grave found on Iwo Jima

Two graves that may hold the remains of up to 2,000 Japanese soldiers have been discovered on the island of Iwo Jima, scene of one of the Second World War's bloodiest battles.

A team of Japanese searchers has discovered 51 remains in two areas listed by the US military after the war as enemy cemeteries. They believe one could contain as many as 2,000 bodies.

Nearly all the 22,000 Japanese defenders in 1945 were killed and the bodies 12,000 are still missing after US troops took the island, which had three airfields that could be used to launch raids on Tokyo. More than 6,000 Americans died.

The discovery of the remains would be one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades toward finding the missing bodies on the island, which the Japanese government renamed Iwoto.